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The Coconut Children
Fall in love twice, just to make sure.Sonny and Vince have always known each other. It took two years of juvie, a crazy mother and a porn stash for them to meet again.Sonny is a sixteen-year-old girl who watches the world from her bedroom window and has a habit of falling hopelessly in love with just about anyone. Vince is a sixteen-year-old boy who became a legend after he was taken away two years ago. Now, Vince is back. In the vertigo of 1990's Cabramatta, in households which harbour histories and parents who are difficult to love, they stumble upon each other once more.
285 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
February 13, 2020
“The coconut children on the trees need to drop into the water. That way the ocean can carry them to another island, where they can grow.”
Cabramatta, 1998. Vincent Tran has returned after two years in juvie, and his childhood friend Sonny Vuong looks on from a distance at this boy she once knew so intimately, now an intriguing stranger. Her world is books and daydreams; his is drugs and violence. They are unexpectedly drawn back together by a series of strange events – a drunk grandma, a secret porn stash – and find that, at age sixteen, the future is full of possibilities that stretch beyond the confines of their poverty-stricken pocket of western Sydney.
This gentle yet raw debut novel made my heart ache. The tiny details about these Vietnamese-Australian lives – fruit eaten with chili salt, green tiger balm as a cure-all for any injury – are sketched with such tenderness. Vince and Sonny’s relationship unfurls so delicately, capturing the longing and hesitation, urgent yet slow, of first love – Pham imbues her characters with the intoxicating uncertainty typical of the adolescence she herself is only just leaving.
Tougher topics are tackled in this novel, too, from intergenerational trauma to domestic violence. Pham expertly captures how class tension plays out in the streets and behind closed doors. She’s a writer of formidable skill – her words flow like poetry, building a vivid world that pulses with difficult, honest beauty.
With Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Joey Bui’s Lucky Ticket, we’ve been fortunate lately to hear from incredibly talented Vietnamese diaspora writers. The Coconut Children joins this list as a wise and moving depiction of the infinite possibility that exists most desperately in the hearts of teenagers searching for themselves in a world that demands to define them.
Cabramatta, 1998. Vincent Tran has returned after two years in juvie, and his childhood friend Sonny Vuong looks on from a distance at this boy she once knew so intimately, now an intriguing stranger. Her world is books and daydreams; his is drugs and violence. They are unexpectedly drawn back together by a series of strange events – a drunk grandma, a secret porn stash – and find that, at age sixteen, the future is full of possibilities that stretch beyond the confines of their poverty-stricken pocket of western Sydney.
This gentle yet raw debut novel made my heart ache. The tiny details about these Vietnamese-Australian lives – fruit eaten with chili salt, green tiger balm as a cure-all for any injury – are sketched with such tenderness. Vince and Sonny’s relationship unfurls so delicately, capturing the longing and hesitation, urgent yet slow, of first love – Pham imbues her characters with the intoxicating uncertainty typical of the adolescence she herself is only just leaving.
Tougher topics are tackled in this novel, too, from intergenerational trauma to domestic violence. Pham expertly captures how class tension plays out in the streets and behind closed doors. She’s a writer of formidable skill – her words flow like poetry, building a vivid world that pulses with difficult, honest beauty.
With Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Joey Bui’s Lucky Ticket, we’ve been fortunate lately to hear from incredibly talented Vietnamese diaspora writers. The Coconut Children joins this list as a wise and moving depiction of the infinite possibility that exists most desperately in the hearts of teenagers searching for themselves in a world that demands to define them.
January 1, 2024
A sweet and gritty novel set in 1990’s Cabramatta, Australia centering the children of Vietnamese refugees. I liked how Vivian Pham addressed important themes related to poverty, violence, intergenerational trauma, the healing power of relationships, and different ways to show care. There were moments of tenderness as well as conflict between certain characters that felt believable and moving.
Unfortunately I thought a fair amount of the prose was overwritten, which took me out of the narrative. Some of the plot also felt difficult to follow or a tad unbelievable within the parameters of the story. From what I’m seeing on Goodreads though Pham was only 16 when she wrote this and around 19 when it got published, so I think there’s potential for growth and even better books in the future if she wants to continue writing.
Unfortunately I thought a fair amount of the prose was overwritten, which took me out of the narrative. Some of the plot also felt difficult to follow or a tad unbelievable within the parameters of the story. From what I’m seeing on Goodreads though Pham was only 16 when she wrote this and around 19 when it got published, so I think there’s potential for growth and even better books in the future if she wants to continue writing.
March 18, 2020
This a sweet and gritty love story set in late 90s Cabramatta (I'm guessing the time-frame actually), among the children of Vietnamese refugees. Pham is astonishingly young and disgustingly talented and weaves a pretty complex web with assurance. The writing was sometimes a bit overblown for me and the narrative didn't always feel entirely realistic, but it's vivid and moving and a welcome new voice in Australian literature.
abandoned
April 26, 2020Very disappointed by this. Very. I'm keen to see more diversity in publishing, but this book needed much better editing than it's had. As others have said here, it's overwritten:
From the chapter titled 'Caught in Guerilla Warfare on the Way to the Loo:
" Monday morning. Michelle, still drowsy and dreamlike from the night before, flaunted her hangover like a heavy, jewel-encrusted crown. Michelle with her fluttery, Herbal Essences hair, strands of midnight marigold picked up and kissed by the wind. Michelle with her long, golden legs; the summer day, an oven for the buttery shortbreads she walked on. " (p.51)
Sometimes, despite re-readings, I could not fathom what was meant by the words on the page:
"He wanted to claim water from the hollow between her slender neck and collarbones. Was she safe to drink from? If he touched her, would she slip right through his fingers? Now was not the time for dipping toes, but for skinny dipping in the dark. Michelle put her palms on his neck and pulled him into the deep end. She gave his lips someone to forget. His fantasies something to dream about. (p.49)
What does that mean, to give his 'lips someone to forget'? And this water that he wants to claim? They are in a kitchen (where "it looked as though she were speaking to the lonely family-sized bottle of ketchup in the fridge.") She hasn't been out in the rain, or in a swimming pool, or had a bath. Is it perspiration? Is it a metaphor for being out of their depth? Who knows... I give up. (At page 51).
I give up because the adolescent fantasies of a teenage girl are never very interesting anyway (except maybe to other adolescents) and the lionising of Vince who's just out of juvenile detention is depressing. The book appears to do the Vietnamese community no favours by representing it as dysfunctional and the Vietnamese school students as disruptive and destructive, not to mention hostile to Australia, as depicted in the burning of the flag incident.
I taught for five years in a suburb of Melbourne not long before the period this novel is set (in 1998), and I have nothing but admiration for the Asian communities who — traumatised by the horrors of the Cambodian genocide and the Vietnam War and the boat journey — were nevertheless clear about the future of their children being dependent on education, and their kids now are an absolute credit to their parents' resilience, hard work and habit of putting their children first.
If blurber Benjamin Law is right about this being 'the future of Australian writing' and an awe-inspiring example of what Gen Z can deliver, then I'm going to be much more careful about what I spend my $32.99 on next time.
PS I don't rate books I don't finish.
PPS If this author is as young as others here have indicated, the publisher has done her no favours IMO. If she has talent, she deserves to be nurtured into achieving her potential, not published prematurely.
From the chapter titled 'Caught in Guerilla Warfare on the Way to the Loo:
" Monday morning. Michelle, still drowsy and dreamlike from the night before, flaunted her hangover like a heavy, jewel-encrusted crown. Michelle with her fluttery, Herbal Essences hair, strands of midnight marigold picked up and kissed by the wind. Michelle with her long, golden legs; the summer day, an oven for the buttery shortbreads she walked on. " (p.51)
Sometimes, despite re-readings, I could not fathom what was meant by the words on the page:
"He wanted to claim water from the hollow between her slender neck and collarbones. Was she safe to drink from? If he touched her, would she slip right through his fingers? Now was not the time for dipping toes, but for skinny dipping in the dark. Michelle put her palms on his neck and pulled him into the deep end. She gave his lips someone to forget. His fantasies something to dream about. (p.49)
What does that mean, to give his 'lips someone to forget'? And this water that he wants to claim? They are in a kitchen (where "it looked as though she were speaking to the lonely family-sized bottle of ketchup in the fridge.") She hasn't been out in the rain, or in a swimming pool, or had a bath. Is it perspiration? Is it a metaphor for being out of their depth? Who knows... I give up. (At page 51).
I give up because the adolescent fantasies of a teenage girl are never very interesting anyway (except maybe to other adolescents) and the lionising of Vince who's just out of juvenile detention is depressing. The book appears to do the Vietnamese community no favours by representing it as dysfunctional and the Vietnamese school students as disruptive and destructive, not to mention hostile to Australia, as depicted in the burning of the flag incident.
I taught for five years in a suburb of Melbourne not long before the period this novel is set (in 1998), and I have nothing but admiration for the Asian communities who — traumatised by the horrors of the Cambodian genocide and the Vietnam War and the boat journey — were nevertheless clear about the future of their children being dependent on education, and their kids now are an absolute credit to their parents' resilience, hard work and habit of putting their children first.
If blurber Benjamin Law is right about this being 'the future of Australian writing' and an awe-inspiring example of what Gen Z can deliver, then I'm going to be much more careful about what I spend my $32.99 on next time.
PS I don't rate books I don't finish.
PPS If this author is as young as others here have indicated, the publisher has done her no favours IMO. If she has talent, she deserves to be nurtured into achieving her potential, not published prematurely.
Read
July 17, 2020I ADORED this book. I adored the characters, the storyline, the setting, the perfect portrayal of teen angst and friendship, I adored the ending, ugh, it was just all so, so good.
The trauma and the violence is so masterfully etched in between the lines, some parts almost unbearable to read especially when you consider the true stories they surely have stemmed from.
It was poetic and dramatic and inspiring, a dance between past/present, the living/the dead and I can not stop thinking about it.
The trauma and the violence is so masterfully etched in between the lines, some parts almost unbearable to read especially when you consider the true stories they surely have stemmed from.
It was poetic and dramatic and inspiring, a dance between past/present, the living/the dead and I can not stop thinking about it.
April 23, 2021
Cabramatta in the 1990s - I felt I was there ... the book moved along at such a pace and with the most vivid descriptions that I was entirely caught up in the story and couldn't put the book down. I read it in a day! The author had a fabulous ability to write the most beautiful prose - I have highlighted a number of sections just because I thought they were utterly beautiful. Here are just two:
"And so the sun was mighty that day. It beamed as though it had never lost a war, as though June was light years away, and the solstice, no matter how hard it tried, could never come close to fitting the sky in its closed fist."
"She tried to look for something in this woman that proved not only that she was her mother, but that she could be anybody's mother: warm and tender like dough, full of lullabies and a thousand hands that reached under your shirt to scratch your back as you drifted off to sleep."
I was entirely transfixed by both main characters, Vince and Sony, and spellbound by their transformation through the book. The book deals with some challenging subject matter, notably the Vietnamese boat people and how they suffered before and during their journey to Australia and how many of them lost themselves once arriving in Australia. I am not sure if the author suffered first hand in a similar way (or if her parents did) but it felt as if she did - the book was so raw.
This author will go far. I highly recommend this book
"And so the sun was mighty that day. It beamed as though it had never lost a war, as though June was light years away, and the solstice, no matter how hard it tried, could never come close to fitting the sky in its closed fist."
"She tried to look for something in this woman that proved not only that she was her mother, but that she could be anybody's mother: warm and tender like dough, full of lullabies and a thousand hands that reached under your shirt to scratch your back as you drifted off to sleep."
I was entirely transfixed by both main characters, Vince and Sony, and spellbound by their transformation through the book. The book deals with some challenging subject matter, notably the Vietnamese boat people and how they suffered before and during their journey to Australia and how many of them lost themselves once arriving in Australia. I am not sure if the author suffered first hand in a similar way (or if her parents did) but it felt as if she did - the book was so raw.
This author will go far. I highly recommend this book
June 13, 2020
Having grown up in the part of Sydney when this book is set, I was super keen to read it. I absolutely loved the diversity factor. Australian books with this flavour (especially set in Western Sydney) are hard to find - publishers take note...
While it’s overwritten in parts (some language needed tightening and perhaps reining in all the descriptions) it’s quite beautiful in parts. I enjoyed the way Sonny and Vince danced around each other and had a shared history - this book is, in many ways, about intergenerational trauma.
As a debut novel, written by a teenager? Wow.
While it’s overwritten in parts (some language needed tightening and perhaps reining in all the descriptions) it’s quite beautiful in parts. I enjoyed the way Sonny and Vince danced around each other and had a shared history - this book is, in many ways, about intergenerational trauma.
As a debut novel, written by a teenager? Wow.
July 19, 2022
3.75/5. It is staggering that the author was only 16 when she wrote this book which was published when she was 19 to high acclaim. She shows incredible emotional maturity and frequent glimpses of brilliance in her phrasings and astute descriptions of life in a multicultural, gang-infested outer-suburban corner of Sydney. It is an area I am well familiar with, set in a decade I knew well. Although at the core of the book is a YA love story, Pham's debut novel impresses most in the complex family dynamics and the colourful observations. Yes, sometimes she overwrites and the plot can be a touch farfetched at times, but she shows such wondrous potential and I look forward to future offerings from her.
February 25, 2020
Vivian Pham started writing her debut novel at 16 and here it is being published next week; she’s 19 now. Pham is a gifted storyteller and writer with a particular talent for dialogue, metaphor and similie. Her style is incredibly evocative and layered. She also uses humour incredibly well. There were some issues with pacing and plot but overall this is a hugely impressive debut from a fresh and vibrant new voice.
January 17, 2021
I really wanted to like this book - the first generation Australian experience! Kids of Asian immigrants! Cabramatta! - but its rambling writing style left me lost and bewildered most of the time. Props to Pham for writing as a 16yo but I felt this was lacking in terms of editorial tightness and lucidity.
July 5, 2020
Trigger warnings: imprisonment, domestic violence, drug addiction, drug dealing, intergenerational trauma, rape (in the past), sexual assault (in the past), violence, assault, vomit, verbally abusive parent, animal abuse.
4.5 stars.
I've been intrigued by this book ever since it was revealed that the author wrote it at the age of 16 and that there was a bidding war over it. Also since I saw the cover, which is GORGEOUS.
I definitely didn't expect this to punch me in the feelings as hard as it did. Both of the audiobook narrators did an incredible job, and Pham's writing is stunning. She really captured the feel of Australian suburbia in the late 90s, of high school in the late 90s (although there were occasional bits of more modern slang that crept in), and of the internet being a new phenomenon.
It was definitely a much darker book than I anticipated, but it was an absolutely incredible book and I loved every second of it.
4.5 stars.
I've been intrigued by this book ever since it was revealed that the author wrote it at the age of 16 and that there was a bidding war over it. Also since I saw the cover, which is GORGEOUS.
I definitely didn't expect this to punch me in the feelings as hard as it did. Both of the audiobook narrators did an incredible job, and Pham's writing is stunning. She really captured the feel of Australian suburbia in the late 90s, of high school in the late 90s (although there were occasional bits of more modern slang that crept in), and of the internet being a new phenomenon.
It was definitely a much darker book than I anticipated, but it was an absolutely incredible book and I loved every second of it.
April 14, 2020
I am surprised the publishers had a bidding war over this novel. It says a lot about the lack of diversity in the publishing world - succumbing to hype and staffed with monoculture types who have only a cursory knowledge of their subject matter. Cabra in the 90s was filled with either cruel, numbed by heroin, black hearted characters or those struggling against the deep waters of poverty, barely able to get their heads up for air. There were no angels. Only devils and the damned. Ms Pham has created a world from her imagining. What a wonderful effort but it falls short of capturing a time and place in which she had never even briefly stepped foot in because she was not yet born. If you want to know what Cabra was like in the 90s or want to understand the Vietnamese immigrant story, watch The Finished People, Little Fish or read The Happiest Refugee. Again, I applaud her attempt (overlooking her overwrought sentences) and appreciate this is a work of fiction (which remains just that).
November 30, 2020
In brief ★★★★½
I have been meaning to read The Coconut Children for months, so was thrilled when @nina.reads.books on instagram agreed to a buddy read. In her debut, Pham gives a clear insight into the lives of Sonny and Vince growing up rough in Cabramatta in 1990s Sydney. The writing has warmth, sophistication and humour, while also ringing deeply true. Readers should note triggers for child sexual abuse, gang rape, domestic violence, migration by boat, drug use and death by overdose.
Sonny is desperate for a boyfriend - so much so that she's fantasising about her balding middle-aged chemistry teacher. But when her childhood best friend Vince is released from juvie, there's no way he'd look at her, not with drop dead gorgeous girls like Michelle around. While Sonny does her best to protect her frail younger brother from their mother's mood swings, Vince makes a surprising discovery at home that gets him thinking about the future, and has him of a mind to rekindle his friendship with Sonny.
I loved this novel. I loved the deeply compassionate portrayal of children doing their best to overcome the hardships of their lives, to wrestle with the ghosts their migrant parents brought with them. I loved the honest depictions of friendship and the way it can shape and uplift you. I loved the fact that this novel is an ode to Cabramatta and the power and vulnerability of youth. And I loved the writing, which was insightful without being pretentious, funny without being mocking and warm without being sentimental.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Pham does next - Australian literature needs more fresh voices like hers.
I have been meaning to read The Coconut Children for months, so was thrilled when @nina.reads.books on instagram agreed to a buddy read. In her debut, Pham gives a clear insight into the lives of Sonny and Vince growing up rough in Cabramatta in 1990s Sydney. The writing has warmth, sophistication and humour, while also ringing deeply true. Readers should note triggers for child sexual abuse, gang rape, domestic violence, migration by boat, drug use and death by overdose.
Sonny is desperate for a boyfriend - so much so that she's fantasising about her balding middle-aged chemistry teacher. But when her childhood best friend Vince is released from juvie, there's no way he'd look at her, not with drop dead gorgeous girls like Michelle around. While Sonny does her best to protect her frail younger brother from their mother's mood swings, Vince makes a surprising discovery at home that gets him thinking about the future, and has him of a mind to rekindle his friendship with Sonny.
I loved this novel. I loved the deeply compassionate portrayal of children doing their best to overcome the hardships of their lives, to wrestle with the ghosts their migrant parents brought with them. I loved the honest depictions of friendship and the way it can shape and uplift you. I loved the fact that this novel is an ode to Cabramatta and the power and vulnerability of youth. And I loved the writing, which was insightful without being pretentious, funny without being mocking and warm without being sentimental.
I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Pham does next - Australian literature needs more fresh voices like hers.
March 21, 2022
Câu chuyện về tình yêu trong sáng tuổi teen trong mối liên hệ với gia đình của những người di cư thế hệ đầu tiên từ Việt Nam sang Úc tại Cabramatta cuối những năm 90s. Có lẽ mình hơi quá tuổi đọc cuốn này nhưng dù sao cũng là một trải nghiệm thú vị và khá enjoyable. 3,5 ⭐️
March 20, 2020
I finished this book today. Best book I have read in a LONG TIME. The author was sixteen when she wrote it. This still blows my mind.
It will no doubt become a core high-school read alongside ‘Looking for Alibrandi’. I’ve no doubt it will also become an iconic Aussie film in years to come. It’s the type of book you could read until sunrise if you knew you didn’t have to get up in the morning to look after your kids. Read it, is all I really have to say.
It will no doubt become a core high-school read alongside ‘Looking for Alibrandi’. I’ve no doubt it will also become an iconic Aussie film in years to come. It’s the type of book you could read until sunrise if you knew you didn’t have to get up in the morning to look after your kids. Read it, is all I really have to say.
July 16, 2020
Beautifully written. The story content is at times confronting and violent, but the writing is true peotry throughout. For me this book was an eye opening account of the trauma and struggles immigrants go through to find their way to our shores. The trauma of past generations being lived out through their children and their children, too. Does your history shape you? I would say yes! after reading this
February 24, 2025
it was very a wild ride of emotions especially since i couldn't relate to the trauma that was discussed within the novel. At times it was really traumatising, disgusting and made me not want to read it. But its actually a solid book once you get to the end. i think it feels like this because its not everyday that you see authors write down some of the explicit thought processes of a teen girl especially when they have a serious crush on people(yes plural you'll get it if you read the book) and then proceed to publish it.
April 8, 2020
Sonny is a 15 year old daughter of immigrant parents in the south-western Sydney of Cabramatta and this is set in the late 90’s. Sonny has a habit of falling in love with anyone and her attentions land on Vince.
Vince has returned from a recent bout at juvie and although he has known Sonny forever they suddenly get to know each other a lot better.
Summary 📖
Full disclosure that I was a schoolgirl in western Sydney in the mid-late 90s so this plot felt really relatable to me based on my own experience.
My own school life had lots of exploration of race, culture and identity and I found this part of the book extremely relatable.
I understand that the author wrote this when she was very young and I found that extremely impressive but I did think it took a while for the scene of the book to be set.
Suggestion 📖
I enjoyed this book but I feel like it is one that might only be of interest if you have had a similar type of experience or upbringing.
📖
Vince has returned from a recent bout at juvie and although he has known Sonny forever they suddenly get to know each other a lot better.
Summary 📖
Full disclosure that I was a schoolgirl in western Sydney in the mid-late 90s so this plot felt really relatable to me based on my own experience.
My own school life had lots of exploration of race, culture and identity and I found this part of the book extremely relatable.
I understand that the author wrote this when she was very young and I found that extremely impressive but I did think it took a while for the scene of the book to be set.
Suggestion 📖
I enjoyed this book but I feel like it is one that might only be of interest if you have had a similar type of experience or upbringing.
📖
April 19, 2020
3.5. I really wanted to love this book. The story follows the intergenerational trauma that has filtered through the families of teen neighbours, Sony and Vince. Separately and together they navigate being 16 in Cabramatta, Western Sydney, as their Vietnamese-Australian heritage seems to weigh down on them yet tie them together. I listened to this via Audible and found it hard to follow the storyline in places but Pham’s narrative made me compelled to continue. I would definitely recommend reading over listening.
Read
January 1, 2021A friend suggested this book to me, advertising it with the line, “You can tell how much you mean to someone by the amount of ginger they make you eat when you’re sick.” This book really got me, can I tell you. Vivian Pham is so honest in her writing, especially when exploring themes of care in POC families, behaviourism interwoven into educational systems, and simply the chaotic and heart wrenching experience of growing up in the Western suburbs. It’s a wonderful feeling reading something that is grounded in a place where I grew up in and is filled with characters that are so painstakingly relatable to how I also was as a desperately insecure teen. Pham’s descriptions of the ruggedness of Cabramatta as being these characters’ true feeling of home rings so true; the simultaneous feeling of wanting to escape it was also something that pulled at my heart strings so damn hard. This book is so dense with such real depictions of conflicting feelings in relation to parental love, senses of belonging and sexual identity, I really appreciated how she continuously explored these themes in such a beautifully nuanced way. Pham’s awareness of the variance of class structures in the West is so so beyond her years, I wish I was as wise and self-aware as her when I was 16! Pham is such an important voice right now, she has written a story that demands attention even though so many people have previously not cared to elevate these narratives in a mainstream audience. While reading this I couldn’t help but so longingly wish to have been able to read this when I was Sonny’s age.
***trigger warning***
This book does contain content about sexual assault, drug abuse, physical violence and traumas of seeking asylum
***trigger warning***
This book does contain content about sexual assault, drug abuse, physical violence and traumas of seeking asylum
June 15, 2020
I wanted to love this! But unfortunately I didn’t.
This story took so long for me to read, too long for a 280 page novel. This story just did not grab me, it felt like a bit of a chore to read.
I do love the idea of this story.
I believe it is is vital for Australians to read stories that celebrate our rich and diverse culture.
Australia, as a young country, is home to people from all over the world and The Coconut Children is a story about adolescent Vietnamese Australians living in Cabramatta, Sydney in 1998. This is a story about young, teenage love, the intensity and drama of it all. All people need to survive adolescence to enter adulthood and it’s a tumultuous time for many. This story captures this well with the stories of Vince and Sonny. Vince has just been released from juvenile detention, he’s independent, unafraid and familiar with violence and intimidation. Sonny is a good girl, respectful to her parents, she cares for for brother, loves her troubled Grandmother, she gets her school work done on time and finds freedom only in jumping on her backyard trampoline. Sonny and Vince grew up next door to each other and this story is about whether they can rekindle their childhood friendship and possibly turn it into something more.
The idea of the story is rock solid, on point, gritty and intriguing. After having been a teenager in the 1990s I wanted to delve back into my own memories as this story told itself. But unfortunately the plot was not strong. The story didn’t build to any climax and the ending was almost non existent. It’s like the author had just had enough so she stopped writing. Like me with this review.
This story took so long for me to read, too long for a 280 page novel. This story just did not grab me, it felt like a bit of a chore to read.
I do love the idea of this story.
I believe it is is vital for Australians to read stories that celebrate our rich and diverse culture.
Australia, as a young country, is home to people from all over the world and The Coconut Children is a story about adolescent Vietnamese Australians living in Cabramatta, Sydney in 1998. This is a story about young, teenage love, the intensity and drama of it all. All people need to survive adolescence to enter adulthood and it’s a tumultuous time for many. This story captures this well with the stories of Vince and Sonny. Vince has just been released from juvenile detention, he’s independent, unafraid and familiar with violence and intimidation. Sonny is a good girl, respectful to her parents, she cares for for brother, loves her troubled Grandmother, she gets her school work done on time and finds freedom only in jumping on her backyard trampoline. Sonny and Vince grew up next door to each other and this story is about whether they can rekindle their childhood friendship and possibly turn it into something more.
The idea of the story is rock solid, on point, gritty and intriguing. After having been a teenager in the 1990s I wanted to delve back into my own memories as this story told itself. But unfortunately the plot was not strong. The story didn’t build to any climax and the ending was almost non existent. It’s like the author had just had enough so she stopped writing. Like me with this review.
August 27, 2025
I debated whether my somewhat harsh rating of 2 stars was ‘fair’, but I really struggled to enjoy and finish this book. I admit I listened to the audiobook, so this may have slightly impacted on my interpretation of the books and the characters.
My main gripes are that the characters were not convincing for me - save for Sonny and Vince’s parents. Both characters were meant to be 16 year old kids, but Sonny was presented as if she was between 8 and 13 years old, and Vince was presented as if he was 19+ in the way they both spoke and interacted with each other and the world around them. For example, Sonny and her friend didn’t realise / were shocked “that people had sex in medieval times.” I found any conversation between Sonny and her best friend borderline insufferable.
I also suspected quite early on that while the author is obviously a Vietnamese-Australian author writing Vietnamese-Australian characters, she wasn’t a person with an experience of ‘low socio-economic’ life writing low socio-economic characters. For example, the characters lived in housing commission and only wore hand me down op shop clothes, yet Sonny worriedly pointed out that Vince’s family didn’t have health insurance (would Sonny’s??) and their public school had a kiln room? I acknowledge I might be projecting and analysing from my own experience growing up “rough” and in a low socioeconomic community in Australia, but a lot of it just didn’t seem realistic to me, even down to the way the characters spoke and the words they chose.
My main gripes are that the characters were not convincing for me - save for Sonny and Vince’s parents. Both characters were meant to be 16 year old kids, but Sonny was presented as if she was between 8 and 13 years old, and Vince was presented as if he was 19+ in the way they both spoke and interacted with each other and the world around them. For example, Sonny and her friend didn’t realise / were shocked “that people had sex in medieval times.” I found any conversation between Sonny and her best friend borderline insufferable.
I also suspected quite early on that while the author is obviously a Vietnamese-Australian author writing Vietnamese-Australian characters, she wasn’t a person with an experience of ‘low socio-economic’ life writing low socio-economic characters. For example, the characters lived in housing commission and only wore hand me down op shop clothes, yet Sonny worriedly pointed out that Vince’s family didn’t have health insurance (would Sonny’s??) and their public school had a kiln room? I acknowledge I might be projecting and analysing from my own experience growing up “rough” and in a low socioeconomic community in Australia, but a lot of it just didn’t seem realistic to me, even down to the way the characters spoke and the words they chose.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2020
I am absolutely floored and so impressed that Vivian Pham was only 16 when she started writing The Coconut Children. This novel is truly beautiful. The language is so poetic and lyrical, with a unique rhythm. There's almost something magical about the words, reminiscent of Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe. Teenage angst is portrayed so realistically, but with an added layer of the weight of familial and cultural history.
At first glance, Sonny and Vince are characters you might have read before but the further along you read you realise how special, vivid and expressive their voices are. The story is intense and difficult at times but the bond between the two characters creates a refuge from their pain. I can't remember the last time I read such a tender, deep and gentle portrayal of young love.
Vivian Pham is a confident, self-assured writer and I can't wait to read what she writes next!
At first glance, Sonny and Vince are characters you might have read before but the further along you read you realise how special, vivid and expressive their voices are. The story is intense and difficult at times but the bond between the two characters creates a refuge from their pain. I can't remember the last time I read such a tender, deep and gentle portrayal of young love.
Vivian Pham is a confident, self-assured writer and I can't wait to read what she writes next!
April 9, 2023
I enjoyed the overall plot and themes in this book, but the specifics left me feeling a bit “meh”. I often found Vivian Pham’s writing confusing - like a student who has used a thesaurus too many times in their writing in an effort to sound smarter. I had to re-read some sentences and still wasn’t quite sure what was being said.
Vincent was an incredibly likeable character, but Sonny was not. Sonny’s parents had a heartbreaking story, as did Vincent’s mum.
This is an honest, and sometimes hard to read, depiction of the challenges of immigrating to Australia that is unfortunately lost in some overly flowery writing.
Vincent was an incredibly likeable character, but Sonny was not. Sonny’s parents had a heartbreaking story, as did Vincent’s mum.
This is an honest, and sometimes hard to read, depiction of the challenges of immigrating to Australia that is unfortunately lost in some overly flowery writing.
August 23, 2020
Was this truly written by a 16 year old??? Quite impressive for someone so young - the ability to put such insights onto a page seems to suggest a teenager beyond her years and I feel that this author is going to go far.
This is a sweet and angst ridden love story of two 16yo teenage neighbours set in the gritty Cabramatta region of Sydney. Sonny is a good studious girl and Vince has just spent 2 years in juvenile detention. After a chance meeting involving porn magazines, these two next door neighbours reconnect and a teenage love story ensues. The first half of the book was a bit slow and it took time to get to know the characters but the second half was great. The stories of their parents were written so well - memories of the Vietnam war and becoming refugees and arriving in Australia were haunting and the impact of all that on their children so sad. Some sentences made me laugh out loud and some shook me up. A great read once you got into it.
This is a sweet and angst ridden love story of two 16yo teenage neighbours set in the gritty Cabramatta region of Sydney. Sonny is a good studious girl and Vince has just spent 2 years in juvenile detention. After a chance meeting involving porn magazines, these two next door neighbours reconnect and a teenage love story ensues. The first half of the book was a bit slow and it took time to get to know the characters but the second half was great. The stories of their parents were written so well - memories of the Vietnam war and becoming refugees and arriving in Australia were haunting and the impact of all that on their children so sad. Some sentences made me laugh out loud and some shook me up. A great read once you got into it.
August 2, 2021
an interesting read with the setting based in my local area. to think that she was 19 when she wrote this!
"Some moments hurt so much they can't ever be lost. We keep them in our pockets; the perfect antithesis to a charm."
"Some moments hurt so much they can't ever be lost. We keep them in our pockets; the perfect antithesis to a charm."
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June 23, 2020This is a stunning debut and I can't wait to read whatever Vivian Pham writes next.
December 27, 2021
This will be studied in Sydney schools in the future, and will be one of those novels that students look back on and realise they actually loved it. A genuinely incredible book.
December 8, 2021
3.5/5! I am blown away the author was 16 when she wrote this. What a debut! Tackling some heavy topics, this was such a profound story and I really felt the bond between Sonny and Vince shine through the pages.
April 15, 2020
This gritty imagining of young love, and the complexities that make up each of the characters is shared beautifully through the author's captivating storytelling. I loved the way the story was told predominantly from the views of each of the main characters, Vince and Sonny, but we, the reader, were also given snippets of information from minor character perspectives to be able to piece together the story a bit better, including what led characters to become the version of themselves that appear in the story.
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